COMMUNITY COMMENTARY Smoking and choking go hand in hand for kids in cars

Tuesday

Mar 10, 2015 at 8:02 AMMar 10, 2015 at 8:02 AM

The year is 1973, I’m 10 years old and my stepfather is chain smoking Kent Kings in the front seat of our Ford Country Squire station wagon.

We’re driving to Florida and have about 20 hours to go and I feel like I’m going to throw up.

“Pedro’s weather forecast: Chili today, hot tamale!” Even the billboards for the South of the Border tourist trap can’t lift my spirits.

“The smoke is making me sick,” I say. “Can you open your window?”

He opens it a crack and a thin stream of smoke escapes. It helps a little, but not much.

I pull the neck of my shirt over my mouth and nose like Bazooka Joe, trying to filter the air.

It helps a little but not much.

My mother tells me to stop stretching the neck of my shirt.

All these years later, as I think about those toxic car rides, I feel nauseous.

So I’m biased against adults smoking in cars where children are trapped.

That’s why I support a bill by State Sen. David Watters of Dover that would ban adults from smoking in cars with passengers under the age of 18.

In 1973 at least my stepfather could claim some ignorance about the dangers of secondhand smoke. Today there is no doubt secondhand smoke is a dangerous and potentially deadly health hazard.

“Tobacco smoke is a mixture of gases and particles,” writes the American Cancer Society. “It contains more than 7,000 chemical compounds. More than 250 of these chemicals are known to be harmful, and at least 69 are known to cause cancer. (Secondhand smoke) has been linked to lung cancer. There is also some evidence suggesting it might be linked to lymphoma, leukemia, and brain tumors in children, and cancers of the larynx (voice box), pharynx (throat), nasal sinuses, brain, bladder, rectum, stomach, and breast in adults.”

I love that Sen. Watters filed the bill on behalf of students in Dover’s Youth to Youth program, who approached him after a lesson on the dangers of smoking. When I was a kid I wasn’t savvy enough to call my state senator for help. My legislative triumph was getting that window opened a crack.

Similar bills were proposed in 2009 and 2013, according to our report by Kim Haas. But they did not pass through the New Hampshire Legislature, which apparently supports exposing children to dangerous levels of carcinogens.

In New Hampshire we’re proud of our motto “Live Free Or Die.” If smokers want to die that’s their business. It’s the state’s business to help children under the age of 18 live free from involuntarily inhaling the cancer causing poisons contained in secondhand smoke.

I’ll be calling my senators and representatives to let them know I support Senate Bill 162.